270 MPH? No problem for this woman

Ashley Sanford, a Fullerton native, stands next to her A/Fuel dragster that she competes in. At 19, she is one of the youngest drivers in the circuit. PAUL RODRIGUEZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Ashley Sanford, a Fullerton native, stands next to her A/Fuel dragster that she competes in. At 19, she is one of the youngest drivers in the circuit. PAUL RODRIGUEZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Drag racer Ashley Sanford,one of the youngest drivers in the circuit, at the controls of her dragster. She grew up in Fullerton and is from a family of drag racers. PAUL RODRIGUEZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Drag racer Ashley Sanford,one of the youngest drivers in the circuit, at the controls of her dragster. She grew up in Fullerton and is from a family of drag racers. PAUL RODRIGUEZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Ashley Sanford stands next to a set of staging lights that she uses to practice her timing. PAUL RODRIGUEZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Ashley Sanford stands next to a set of staging lights that she uses to practice her timing. PAUL RODRIGUEZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Ashley Sanford with her grandfather Ed Sanford, left, and father Shane stand next to Ashley's A/Fuel dragster. At young age, Ashley watched her grandfather and father drag race. PAUL RODRIGUEZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Ashley Sanford with her grandfather Ed Sanford, left, and father Shane stand next to Ashley's A/Fuel dragster. At young age, Ashley watched her grandfather and father drag race. PAUL RODRIGUEZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Ashley Sanford

Attended: Fullerton Union High, Troy High and La Sierra High, which she graduated from

Sanford's Top Alcohol dragster

Length 25 feet

Weight 2,250 pounds (with driver)

Horsepower 4,500

Top speed so far: 260 mph

Best quarter-mile time: 5.2 seconds

She has the looks of a cover girl and the charm to match.

Ashley Sanford is also ingrained with the mettle needed to drive a dragster 270 miles per hour.

This combination could make Sanford, 19, one of the more marketable athletes in the male-dominated sport of drag racing.

With racing blood that goes back three generations, Sanford is among the youngest, and one of only a few female, drivers in the National Hot Rod Association.

She’s been competing for a year in the NHRA’s Top Alcohol class, one notch below Top Fuel – drag racing’s highest level.

Joined by her family and other members of her racing team, Sanford recently discussed her budding career from the driveway of her Fullerton home. Her 25-foot-long alcohol-fueled dragster sat center stage, alongside a trailer dotted with a dozen sponsor logos.

“It’s exhilarating, to put it simply,” Sanford said on the feeling of rocketing along a drag strip at 270 mph. “It’s honestly, to me, the best feeling in the world.”

In racing, marketability leads to sponsorships, and sponsorships bring in dollars, said her father, Shane Sanford, 46, a former drag racer himself and owner of his daughter’s racing team.

To succeed at the highest levels, those dollars – millions of them – are needed.

Shane Sanford spent $150,000 to purchase the dragster, selling his racing vehicles to help come up with the money. To keep that dragster competing for a season runs an additional $100,000, he said.

With two Top Alcohol events under her belt in the past year, Sanford has already secured sponsorship from Gelish, a Brea nail polish manufacturer; two Las Vegas hotels; two hotel chains; and Lucas Oil. Local sponsors include Heroes restaurant and Roscoe’s Famous Deli.

“We’re very happy with what we’ve done and where we are headed, because it is tough out there, and we’ve got a lot of pretty-big-name sponsors for the first year out,” her father said. “Hopefully, we pay our dues for a few years and she stands a good chance of making it to Top Fuel.”

Sanford credits her crew for keeping the dragster moving.

“I’d say 90percent of the success in the car is the team,” she said.

“When it comes to being in the car, the engine is running, and I’m about to go, that’s all on me. …

“So when I get in the car, I want to make sure I get my 10percent right, because the other 90percent … if I do win, it is for them.”

Her grandfather, Ed Sanford, once competed and provides mentorship.

“She can just drive the snot out of that car,” said Ed Sanford, 67. “She is just flat-good.”

Sanford’s family is on hand for every race.

“I am a wreck,” said mom, Michele Sanford. “I just want it on four wheels at the end of the track and that is No.1 to me, and then, of course, for her to do well.”

Dad has faith in his daughter’s skill and the safety equipment in the dragster. It’s more dangerous driving to the local store, he said.

“I’m just thinking about … honestly … looking at the other people we are racing against,” he said. “(These are) the bigger names in the sport, and as a team and as a crew, we want to beat them.”

So far, Sanford’s best finish in a Top Alcohol event has been 10th.

Sanford shows off her dragster at local hot rod shows and has done two autograph signings alongside the machine on the iconic Freemont Street in Las Vegas.

“We definitely got a lot of attention there,” she said.

The family is talking with a production company about a possible reality show. The theme: a woman achieving success in a male-dominated sport.

“My heart was always with racing,” Sanford said. “To me personally, this was so far-fetched to (imagine) … to be able to be where I am today.”

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